A.N. Yes, this is the waterfall next to Varl's Place…I always wondered if it was a hot spring. For this story I made it one, just so Aloy could have a warm bath and not something cold as I'm sure she's used to. Also, there's a sentence in here that gives away a scene that will happen towards the end of Memories.

The silent treatment. She'd been getting it since she woke. The water cascading down the mountain behind them and the occasional rustle of trees from below their secluded perch was her only reprieve from awkward silence.

The wound still barked at her occasionally, but her side almost looked normal again. At least a chunk of her wasn't missing anymore.

Tilda's hands worked across her skin as tender as ever, but Tilda hadn't uttered a word since dragging her to the spring and saying "get in".

She could've cleaned herself. But, if this made Tilda happy…

Tilda ran the soaked cloth over her skin, sitting on the rocky ledge of the hot spring, her pant legs rolled, and her bare feet dangling in the water.

'What would he have done if Zo acted this way?'

Aloy stole a few glances to the place where Varl's tomb once sat. Honoring Sona's request, they brought his body back to the Nora shortly before tackling Nemesis; the ceremony for his final passage held on a day like this, one where the sun gently warmed and inspired new hope. Varl was one of few to ever see her injured and broken. She ran from him but couldn't do that with Tilda. She didn't want to.

She hesitated to come back to the base injured but that's when she needed the warmth of Tilda's arms around her the most, but she couldn't admit that out loud. She'd never hunt again if she did.

Tilda's worry suffocated her with guilt. Even if Tilda said little, the fear in her gaze spoke loud. Tilda probably didn't think she caught those moments where the Zenith sat alone with a hand over her eyes and a slouch to her regal posture. Tilda would never fully adapt to the unpredictable nature of the wilds, or how fate could turn out of their favor in seconds.

Life was meant to be finite. No matter how many hundreds of years someone lived, a strike at the right moment could still kill. No one had absolute control.

'I just deal with it. I figure she'll come around eventually, after everything settles.'

That's the advice Varl would give…but he had more patience.

"You're still pissed with me, aren't you?"

Tilda silently washed the dried blood from her skin.

"I don't like lying to you."

Tilda lifted her arm and Aloy gently grimaced at the wipes close to the wound, plumes of red floating to the surface of the water.

"I didn't want you to worry."

Tilda pushed her sleeves up as far as they'd go and bent deeper into the water to reach Aloy's lower back.

"I didn't know how you'd take it."

Tilda's hand warmed her shoulder as the Zenith stopped for a moment. "…you coming back with blood all over you is a worse surprise. Did you think I'd miss that?"

Tilda's first words. Aloy perked from where she sat relaxed between the Zenith's legs.

"You said a day..."

"…I got sidetracked." Aloy said, watching the water ripple as her side throbbed beneath the surface and the air stiffened between them once more.

"What happened?"

Another question. Tilda was coming around.

"...just made a bad move with a machine."

Silence.

"But I'm fine now. I feel good."

Silence.

"Really Tilda…it's fine."

Aloy turned. It was time to officially end the silent treatment. A.K.A., the counter-productive measure that made no sense and served no purpose. Aloy took the Zenith's white shirt into her hands with a mischievous smile and Tilda quickly met her gaze.

"Aloy, don't—"

She pulled and the mighty Zenith splashed into the water with her. Tilda shook the water out of her hair and wiped her face with her hands. "Why would you—"

Aloy kissed her. The first kiss since she'd passed out, and she needed it more than Tilda. "I owe you."

"Do you?"

Aloy tugged at a button on Tilda's shirt but Tilda took her wrist and leaned close. "Not when I'm drenched in a pool of your own blood." She said; Aloy tempted by the lips lingering against her temple, until a horrid mental image, much worse than reality, stunned her speechless.

"I wasn't thinking that…and now I am." Aloy looked at the red-tinged water. "And I'm successfully grossed out."

Holding hostage a smile, Tilda laid her chin on Aloy's shoulder, her arms wrapped loose around Aloy's muscled waist.

"Thank you."

"…for bringing you back from the dead, again?"

"…not just that."

Tilda kissed her cheek then turned and climbed out of the water. "Your charm doesn't get you a pass. I'm still not happy with you." Tilda said, wringing the water out of her clothes as much as she could, but she'd still have to change. "I'll be downstairs for a while today, should have Gaia up and running by tonight. You can thank me later." Tilda said and headed back inside without a glance at her.

'Damn…almost…'

Computers didn't lie. Every program started out in the engineer's control. Every step, every line, written to give an A.I. the illusion of individual thought, but at the end of the day Gaia still answered to them, her decisions made by following precise pathways of if-then statements, and complex cause and effect algorithms. If she ever became a rogue A.I., her program could be altered, even shut down.

Aloy, was no program.

The new Tritinium core Aloy found replaced the malfunctioned processor killing Server Five. Those extra days to Aloy's trip were worth it…unfortunately.

Aloy stayed out of her way for the rest of the day. They crossed paths a few times and kept conversations short. Aloy wanted more but knew not to push her luck. She may have been on her feet thanks to the medication, but the injury was still fresh in their minds.

The day passed swiftly, and she didn't realize late evening turned to night until Aloy visited her downstairs.

"Hey."

Aloy in regular clothes was a tempting sight. It almost made her forget Aloy was from a different world. It tricked her into thinking she could walk outside the base and there the city would be, shining in all its glory. But the scars on Aloy's leg from spear stabs and nicks brought her back to their reality. They'd come a long way, but Aloy still belonged to the wild.

Aloy strode into the room with slow but confident steps, her posture straight even as her hand nursed her side.

Surrounded by Gaia's servers, Tilda glanced to the exit from the holo-console at the center of the room but didn't meet her gaze, chilled at the sight of Aloy's bare feet on the freezing cold floor. "You're here. Good timing. Say something to Gaia."

"…okay…hey Gaia."

"Authentication in progress…vocal match identified. Resetting parameters to last utilized configuration….welcome back, Aloy."

"Only your voice will reactivate Gaia after a hard reboot."

"Don't I feel special…"

Aloy wanted to say something more, likely the plea to get her upstairs; she felt Aloy's hesitance as a strain in the air but kept her focus on the console.

"It's…late."

Guilt seeped from Aloy's voice but she didn't respond to it.

"I'll be up soon." She said nonchalant, watching Aloy slowly turn and head back up out of the corner of her eye. Alone again, she stopped her work on the console and sighed. The servers' hum had been a comfort for many hours, but it was time to let her anger go.

Déjà vu. Tilda stepped into the office-turned-bedroom with an easy saunter, like she did a decade ago. Only now the target dummies were moved to a place more suitable. Aloy moved them to Varl's old room to make space years ago—thankfully. Waking up to the straw dummies looming overhead was…unsettling to say the least, even more so during intimate moments.

"Sleeping under duress" that's what she called it, and Aloy just laughed.

Aloy lay on her back, reading from a data pad she held close to her face. The low warmth of candlelight by the bed colored Aloy's skin in a soft caramel glow, and Tilda smiled gently. This room felt like home more than any other place in the world.

"Damn…so I really have to wait it out." Aloy said to herself. Her attention focused elsewhere, Aloy didn't hear her enter, a rarity for her to successfully sneak up on the hunter.

Tilda stopped in the middle of the room. After so many centuries without her, seeing her still didn't feel real some days. "Wait out what?"

Aloy sat up quick at her voice and grabbed her side in consequence.

"Why do you look surprised to see me?"

Aloy set aside the data pad. "I was starting to think you'd sleep in another room tonight."

She joined Aloy on the bed. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know. You haven't said much to me in two days."

"You were unconscious for one of those days, if I recall correctly."

Aloy smirked at her gentle sarcasm.

"Let me see it." Tilda pressed a finger into Aloy's stomach and Aloy got the message, laying down once more. Tilda pushed up the hem of Aloy's shirt, studying the cut and bruise at Aloy's side with a serious gaze. "Does it hurt?"

"No. I just got up too fast."

Tilda looked over. "Are you lying to me?"

"Why would…" Aloy swallowed her refute, sighing into the hand on her stomach. She knew her track record didn't sit in her favor when it came to being honest about her emotions. "No."

Aloy grimaced slightly at her gentle press. She'd be sore for a while. A small price to pay.

She kissed Aloy's side and blew out the candles at the bedsides, carefully leaning over the huntress to do so. Only one candle remained, lit where it sat on the desk above, its light miniscule and dim against darkness. It would burn itself out by morning.

Tilda laid down and closed her eyes with a well-deserved sigh, ignoring the shift beside her. A kiss pressed to the bridge of her nose, and she couldn't help but smile.

"I'll be fine. Promise—"

"Don't." Tilda said, feeling Aloy's confusion hovering in the silence. "You can't make that promise if you don't take my offer."

Aloy's touch traipsed down her arm, a hand taking her wrist, and her palm meeting the soft warmth under Aloy's shirt. Aloy wanted her undivided attention and was a master at getting it. If she opened her eyes she'd see the huntress over her, waiting for her forgiveness with a tender gaze.

"I'm here, now." Aloy said softly and leant down, kissing deep into the crook of her neck.

Her thumb stroked back and forths into Aloy's skin. This was the last part of the vicious cycle. Aloy used touch to sway her anger and hope to make her forget. Then, it all happened again. Only one day their time would run out, Aloy's would, and she'd be left mourning again.

"Why won't you do it?"

Aloy climbed over her fully but Tilda held back the next kiss, looking into eyes she couldn't quite see.

"Most would jump at the chance for eternal life."

Aloy gathered her closer and kissed her where she could reach, not caring for words.

"Why?"

"I don't know if I want to live a thousand years."

Tilda's lips tightened to a line at the ease in Aloy's response, and she pushed greater space between them. What did that mean? That she would outlive Aloy? That Aloy expected she'd watch her die? No, that didn't seem right. It wouldn't happen. Aloy would not die before her.

"It's not how life works."

"Longevity treatments can make you faster, stronger, better in all aspects…you'd have no ailments." She brushed back Aloy's hair, Aloy's desire settling with a sigh at the direction of the conversation. "Why wouldn't you want that?"

Aloy looked away, likely thinking her naturalist thoughts.

"It's not how life works."

If she had to hear that excuse again...

Aloy already acted like an immortal, took risks that no average human would, but hesitated to take the steps to make immortality a reality. It didn't make sense. She failed to understand how quickly decades came and went. Time moved so much faster than she realized.

"You're not getting any younger, and I'd feel better knowing your body can repair itself." Tilda took Aloy's face into her hands. "Or, that you have an advantage over your enemies."

"I have that now." She heard Aloy's cocky grin more than she saw it.

"Not forever. You won't always be able to do everything you do now. You're not invincible…though you act like you are."

Aloy quieted and laid nestled at her side. "Are we having this conversation again?" Aloy grumbled out the question and she wrapped an arm around Aloy's waist.

"Really, try to understand why I think it's for the best. What harm is it to you?"

Aloy groaned against her. "...I like my hair. That color works on you. Not me."

Hair? That couldn't be her only concern. Surely she had more pressing reasons for her prolonged hesitation.

"We'll start slow. Some general enhancements." A pause weighed the air as Tilda stroked Aloy's hair. These beautiful red locks bleached for immortality; a vital part of her identity stripped as the cost. No, she wouldn't want that either. "We can ease into the cellular treatments."

"How long does the process take?"

Tilda sat up on her forearm, her eyes bright with hope, her ears ignoring the undertone of defeat in Aloy's voice. "About 7 years."

"So, what? I'll be 37 for the rest of my life."

"More or less."

Aloy quietly breathed in consideration and Tilda waited at the edge for her response. "...okay." Aloy whispered.

If she could turn on a light she would, just to witness the truth in Aloy's eyes. "Really?"

"...as long as it's slow."

Tilda took Aloy's face and kissed her quick, Aloy's grin reemerging as Aloy gripped her waist and rolled them over; Aloy's touch traipsing down her front.

"Don't start or we'll never sleep."

"You said I could thank you later."

She couldn't contain her smile. "What made you change your mind?"

"That hit really fucking hurt."

"That's it?"

" …and you."

Tilda pulled Aloy close and their foreheads met.

"I love you." Aloy said.

It took a long time and a lot of trust before she heard Aloy say those words, and they still made her heart thump a certain way. Aloy said them rarely, making them more precious.

The End